


Musica Universalis

by Nellied



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Angst, Family, Fluff, Gen, Homesickness, Music, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-10
Updated: 2019-08-10
Packaged: 2020-08-14 09:03:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20189728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nellied/pseuds/Nellied
Summary: Walking home one day, something stops Susan in her tracks.





	Musica Universalis

Susan was on her way back to the junkyard when she heard the hint of a melody, drifting to her on the wind. It was going to be one of those days then. She didn’t know whether this was a good thing or a bad thing. 

She knew it had to be Grandfather playing. A casual passer-by might have assumed it was a violin. A viola, perhaps- there was something deeper and more resonant in the sounds that were floating out from the junkyard. If you listened more closely, you would have noticed that the notes flowed like water, that the timbre was just off somehow, that the mysterious virtuoso was playing in modes entirely alien to this small, provincial world. It was strange and beautiful and impossible. It was _ Gallifreyan_. 

She almost whispered the word to herself, as if it were a magic charm. _ Gallifrey_. She didn’t have many memories of the place where she was born. Grandfather always called it home, and spoke of it with wistfulness, but they had left while she was still very young, and she barely remembered it. The music was her only real connection to that planet. She had formed an image of Gallifrey based on that music, an image of elegance, of beauty and of happiness. Grandfather wouldn’t approve, but honestly, that image of Gallifrey was more real than all of his stories.

Still, however much Susan enjoyed the music, it always had the most peculiar effect on Grandfather. Sometimes he was happy after playing. She would walk into the TARDIS and he would nod and twinkle and take her on some fantastic adventure and all the while he would act like a man half his age, running and laughing and pointing out all the wonderful things around them, just to see Susan’s reactions. It wasn’t a side of Grandfather that she often saw, and some of her fondest memories were from days when she had returned home to music.

On the other hand, sometimes the music made him terribly sad. He might still twinkle at her, or he might just bluster about in his usual crotchety manner, but underneath it all was a resigned melancholy. He would hide it well, but when he thought Susan wasn’t looking, his eyes would be heavy and he would look out over the junkyard into a distance that wasn’t there anymore. Susan dreaded those days.

He had never told Susan about it. She didn’t know the name of the instrument, or what it looked like, or even that it was definitely him playing. He had to know that she could hear it; he wasn’t a fool. But as long as he held his silence, she would pretend not to have noticed. After all, if she mentioned it, he might stop, and that would be a shame. If nothing else, she would have lost her strongest connection to her family’s world. Perhaps Grandfather knew this, and that’s why he said nothing. Or perhaps he simply didn’t care.

She would walk on into the TARDIS and he would stumble in a little while later, looking for all the world like he had popped out to take a stroll. Whether his response was frivolous or melancholy, she would spend the evening with him, playing chess, or reading or going on an adventure. Nobody would speak of the music, and life would continue.

But for now she lingered and let the music fill her ears, imagining a home she had never really seen, dredging up half-forgotten memories of a childhood spent underfoot, giggling and looking out at the stars. She never could be quite sure whose memories they were.  
The music played on, as Susan stood, lost in thought.

**Author's Note:**

> Just a scrap of something I found when going through files on my computer. Not sure quite when I wrote it, or why, but I quite like it- hope you do too :)


End file.
